Shoe heel and method of making the same



April 15, 1924.

A. J, HUBBARD SHOE HE EL AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME Filed June 28. 1922 Patented Apr. 15, 1924.

s a at AGNES J'. HUBBARD, F HER-KIMER, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO UNITED SHOE MACHIN- ERY CORPORATION, OF PATERSON, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW J SHOE HEEL AND METHOD 9F MAKING THE SAME.

Application filed June 28, 1922. Serial No. 571,485.

To all 70. 2 0272 it may concern:

Be it known that I, AGNES J HUBBARD,

a citizen of the United States, residing at Herkimer, in the county of Herkimer and 5 State of New York, have invented certain Improvements in a Shoe Heel and Method of Making the Same, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like reference characters on the drawings indicating like parts in the several figures.

This invention relates to the manufacture of heels and particularly to heels built up of layers or lifts of leather, leatherboard or other suitable material.

Although heels are built up of lifts having fiat faces a certain amount of concavity in the seat face of the heel is necessary before it can be applied to a shoe, since the heel seat portion of a shoe is always more or less convex. Various expedients are adopted to produce the desired conformation of the seat face of the heel such as the use of rands, gouged lifts, and molding by heavy pressure, the last-mentioned method being by far the most common. compressed heel is always very hard and is, therefore, liable to make defacing marks on the shank of the shoe sole when it ispressed down heavily in the heel attaching operation. In order partially to overcome this objection an additional depression, deeper than the general concavity of the heelseat, is usually molded in the seat face of the heel at and adjacent to the breast. This is known in the language of the shoe maker as a C0- burn lip. When the Coburn lip is formed by molding pressure alone the breast portion of the heel, of course, is even harder than the remainder of the heel and offers great resistance of the passage of the knife of the heel breasting machine, causing the knife to run out of its intended path and frequently even causing breakage of breasting knives. Sometimes it is attempted partially to overcome this difficulty by gouging a piece out of the seat face of the heel at the breast prior to the compressing operation so there shall not be so much excess material at this point to be condensed by the molding pressure. This has, however, always been made a separate operation, called lip cutting, requiring a separate machine and involving a substantial labor cost.

It is the object of the present invention toovercome the above-named difficulties by edge of one or more lifts at the place where the lip or relief is required, this lift or lifts then being assembled with other lifts into the form of a heel and the heel material being compressed into the recess to form the lip. The recess in the breast edge of the lift may advantageously be formed when the lift is died out, it only being necessaryto use a die of suitable contour to die out the lift from the sheet stock and simultaneously form the recess.

In another aspect of the invention an improved heel is provided having one or more of its lifts relieved by recesses formed in their breast edges. Such a heel when compressed is not excessively hard in the breast portion and does not offer undue resistance to the breasting knife.

Further features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from reading the following detailed description of one embodiment thereof-in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a perspective view of a series of lifts sufficient for a heel, arranged in proper order but separated from each other;

Fig. 2 shows the same lifts in assembled relation, the heel being ready to be molded;

Fig. 3 shows the heel after it has been a molded in a heel compressing machine; and Fig. 4 is a plan view of one of the lifts with the recess in its breast edge.

Referring now to the drawings, 10 indicates a heel lift out out by a suitably shaped die to provide a recess or notch 12 of substantial size in its breast edge. As shown, the lift 10 is a wedge lift. This, however, is a matter of appropriate selection and naturally wedge lifts will be included or not in the heel as may be necessary to produce the desired pitch in the heel. Moreover, either the recessed or plain lifts, or both, may be wedges. I

Assembled with the recessed lift or lifts iii) are a heel seat lift 16 and a plurality of plain lifts 18. These lifts may be of leather, leatherboard or other suitable lift material although, for a reason which will appear more clearly hereinafter, the seat lift 16 may, advantageously, be of leather and the top lift, and perhaps the lift nextto it, will usually be of leather.

Having assembled the lifts into heel form and secured them together, either by paste or-nails or both, the built up heel will have the appearance shown in Fig. 2. In this heel the tread face and seat face are flat and the heel is ready to be molded in a heel conpressor. It will be observed that. the recesses 12 in the breast portions of one or more of the lifts form spaces which relieve the blank from excessive pressure in the region acted upon by the lip of the; heel seat die in the compressing mold.

Fig. 3 illustrates the heel after it has been molded and compressed between suitable dies in a heel compressor. A concavity or cup has been formed in the seat face 16v and the lip has been molded in. the, seat face at the breast, as shown at 20. The recess 12 has been filled up by the molded-material of the other lifts while the lip 20 has been formed without undue hardening or condensation of the material in the breast portion of the heel.

Not only are the above-indicated results secured without cutting the lip 20 in a, separate operation but the continuity of the base lift 16, has not been destroyed, as is the case when a portion of it is cut out. The heel, therefore, presents a more attractive appearance and a better surface for engagement with the heel seat of the shoe. When the base lift 16 consists of leather, as above suggested, it takes a very satisfactory finish from they die of the heel compressor and leaves a perfect edge after the heel trimming and breasting operations.

From the above description it will be un derstood that the present invention makes it possible to secure the most advantageous conformation of a heel, to make it fit the heel seat of a shoe properly without involving the introduction of a separate lip cutting operationand without producing a heel which is hard to breast or operate upon.

Having described the invention, what is claimed as new and desired to be secured byv Letters Patent is 1. That method of producing a heel with a, Coburn lip which comprises forming a recess in the breast edge of a lift at the place where the lip is to be formed, assembling the lift with other lifts into the form of a heel, and compressing the heel material into the recess to form the lip.

2, That method of producing a heel with a Coburn lip which comprises forming a recess in the breast of a lift at the place where the lip is to be formed, assembling the lift with other lifts to form a heel, and compressing the heel material into the recess to produce a lipped heel having a continuous base lift, including the lip area.

3. A heel comprising a plurality of lifts at least one of which has a recess in its breast edge, the material of other lifts being compressed into the recess.

4. A heel having a Coburn lip and comprising at least one lift provided with a re cess in its breast edge, the base lift of the heel. being continuous throughout, including the lip area.

5. A heel including a lift provided with a recess in its breast edge and a leather base lift with a Coburn lip, a portion of the material in the heel breast being compressed into the recess in the formation of the heel.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

AGNES J. HUBBARD. 

